The hidden code in genomics: a tool for gene discovery

Among new insights coming from the completion of sequencing of the human genome, reported in Nature and Science, are clues of how evolution has increased the complexity of species, and in particular how the genetic code has enabled this process. It is clear that life has not only evolved by increasing the number of genes, but also by ingeniously evolving an efficient code for expressing diversity in the building blocks (i.e. the amino acids). The rules of nucleic acid base pairing and the classification of amino acids according to hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity relationships define a binary DNA code, which determines the general biophysical characteristics of proteins. Sense and antisense strands can encode protein segments having inverted and complementary hydropathy. The underlying binary code controls association and dissociation of proteins and presumably represents a primordial code that might have emerged in the early stages of self-organizing biochemical cycles. It is the purpose of this communication to provide a perspective of the code in the context of a binary language from its primordial origin to its present day format and to propose to use this code as a genomic mining tool.